Most computer generated music is created in a constructive non-realtime fashion and not by playing any instrument. Performance of such music needs special concepts. I wrote an essay about this topic, Live Performance in the Age of Super Computers. I provide the audience with an experience it cannot get at home or when listening to a DJ set. I make use of multiple channels of audio and advanced real time computer animations. I place the listener in a deep, wide field of sound that is much bigger than the physical room defined by the speakers and the walls. I constantly interact with my instruments, and no performance is like another. I develop my own tools for performance, such as the Monodeck II or self-written software, including Ableton Live which enables me to react to the audience, and to shape and actually play the music in a concert situation. I explore acousmatic concepts, ambisonics, and wave field synthesis for diffusion of sound in space.
Currently I follow three main directions with my performances: There is Monolake Live Surround, which is the big, massive audiovisual tour de force. There is Atom, and I also perform more ambient, drone, computer music influenced multichannel concerts as Robert Henke. (Layering Buddha, Intersection, Studies for Thunder...)Concert dates to be found on the main page. Previous concerts are listed in the archive.
First dates of the upcoming tour manifest itself, see main page. And here is a bit of preliminary info!
A 12 hour drone performance based on resampling and processing of cymbal sounds. Opening night of the 'Body Controlled' exhibition series at LEAP Berlin, November 26th 2011.
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Ultra high definition video and audio. Multiple Screens, multiple audio channels. 2011 till present.
Sound: Robert HenkeComputer Graphics: Tarik Barri
Multichannel audiovisual performance, duration around 60 - 75 minutes. 4 to 24 channels of audio. up to 6 channels of video. Rhytmical music with a lot of bass for larger audiences. 2009 till present. This is a concert, not a club event.
Sound: Robert HenkeComputer Graphics: Tarik Barri
Adaption of the 2009 Monolake Live Surround setup for a wave field synthesis system. Commissioned work for IOSONO, Berlin, December 2009.
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Tau-WFS is a modified version of the piece Tau, for the large wave field synthesis system at the Technical University, Berlin. Commissioned work for Club Transmediale Festival 2011. Premiere: February 6 2011.
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Tau is a realtime performance piece for the INA/GRM Acousmonium plus eight channel surround setup. Duration 30 minutes.
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Composition for a wave field synthesis system. Commissioned work for Game of Life, Leiden, Holland. Premiere: November 20 2010 at the STRP festival in Eindhoven, Holland. Duration 7 minutes.
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Performance for a matrix of 64 floating gas balloons, lights, and sound. Dimensions 10m x 10m x 10m. four channel audio. 2007 till present.
Sound and LED control: Robert HenkeBalloons and motion: Christopher Bauder
Six channel soundscape performance based on field recordings captured in Hanoi. Duration 20 minutes. 2010 till present.
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Six channel drone / ambient performance based of the Layering Buddha album. Duration 45 - 60 minutes. 2007 till present.
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Audiovisual connected network performance for two players in two different countries. 2002 till present.
Sound, visualisation and software: Robert HenkeCollaborators: Deadbeat ( Scott Monteith), T++
Eight channel drone / ambient concert in complete darkness. Duration 30 minutes. 2005 - 2007.
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